Pictures

These are our brothers and sisters from Yemah. Also keep them in your prayers. We are so excited that God is growing His family.
Pray for the kids from Moirekwelie. These are the ones who asked Christ to come into their hearts. They were asking some good questions about how to live now, so pray that there will be role models for them as they learn more about Christ.
This is Amos from Nyemah. He became a Christian during week 2, so please pray for him as he may have been the only one to accept Christ that week. 
While we were waiting to be picked up on Friday, I taught the kids how to play a version of Simon says. We had a lot of fun. Lisa taught Duck, Duck, Goose, and we also played hopscotch with them. They loved playing games.
We tried monkey meat this week. Fortunately they didn't parade this dead one around til later on that day. On the left is Comfort, and on the right is Matilda from our VBS team.

On the way to the airport to fly into the bush, we see this. Talk about a little culture shock going on! 3 men and a goat in the streets of Monrovia. Not what you see every day. 

Here is Lisa with a girl who had malaria. This was the little girl who Comfort was able to help, and when this picture was taken the little girl was doing much better. 

So there was this boy named, Jerry, who we met the first day of week 3. He had a mind of his own and definitely made us laugh. Our last morning there, he showed up sporting this outfit and just posed for us. Good ole Jerry!

What a Week We Had

It is hard to believe that we finished up our 4th week in the bush on Friday, and what a week it was. Overall we had a very good week, but it definitely had its challenges. Our biggest obstacle was the overall dirtiness of this village. Apparently the people aren't too concerned about cleanliness as a whole, so trash lines the paths and dirt. We think that was the reason we struggled so much with bugs this time. Poor Lisa took a beating, and to look at her legs you might think she suffered from a small case of the chicken box. It was bad. There seemed to be no relief from them both outside as well as in Lisa's tent. She was a trooper though and stuck out the week with her head held high. I am proud of her. 

Other than the bugs, we had a good time with our kids. It was a much smaller group this time, so we were able to interact on a more personal level. The kids spoke English well, so that made it nice for me. I didn't feel so distant from all that was going on. It was the first time that some of our team taught, so that was fun to see them teach some. Our team was all together in a house for the first time this week too, so it was good to have some more interaction with them. We all came back to Monrovia this week, so we will have time together to go through a Bible study and then to plan our follow up strategy for each village. I am so excited about this next phase even if we will only get to experience it for a week. Not only do we get to see kids grasp a hold of what Jesus did for them on the cross and give their lives and hearts to Him, but now we get to help encourage them and watch them grow in their new, exciting relationship with Christ! What a privilege for sure.

We have some good photos to post, so I promise they are coming soon. We are here in Monrovia for the week, so hopefully tomorrow we will get some good ones put up. Thank you all for praying. God is doing good stuff here. He is advancing His kingdom! Please pray that we would be able to set up a good plan to head back into these villages, so we can help equip them for a live filled with Christ. As part of our past illustrations in VBS, we would create a door post for the story of the passover, and then as we would explain it, we would smear red paint on it to illustrate the blood that was required for the angel of the Lord to pass over the house. We leave it to the side until the next day when we come to the cross. We then take that very door frame and turn it into the cross to show them that Jesus' blood was required for us to have eternity with God. We pass out paper and allow them to write sins down on it to come and "nail" to the cross. It is always a highlight of the week because right after this we present the Gospel to them and allow them to choose whether or not they want to invite Jesus in to their hearts. It is truly an amazing thing that was done for us on the cross. Here are the words to a song that talks about the awesomeness and power of what Jesus did on the cross. We have so much to be thankful for. 

"The Power of the Cross"
Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend  

Oh, to see the dawn
Of the darkest day:
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men,
Torn and beaten, then
Nailed to a cross of wood.

CHORUS:
This, the pow'r of the cross:
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath—
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Oh, to see the pain
Written on Your face,
Bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Ev'ry bitter thought,
Ev'ry evil deed
Crowning Your bloodstained brow. 

Now the daylight flees;
Now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows His head.
Curtain torn in two,
Dead are raised to life;
"Finished!" the vict'ry cry. 

Oh, to see my name
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death;
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love.

FINAL CHORUS:
This, the pow'r of the cross:
Son of God—slain for us.
What a love! What a cost! 
We stand forgiven at the cross. 

And We're Off Again

Tomorrow is the start of week 4 with VBS. We will be heading into a smaller village with somewhere between 40-60 kids which will definitely be a switch. We have had a good and restful weekend, so we are heading in ready to for the week. Please pray for us though as we have heard this could potentially be a hard week. It sounds like village life will be a bit different than the past few weeks, so we might be having a new adventure. :) God is with us, so we are confident in Him this week with VBS and the day to day life. God is good. Thank you so much for all your prayers. 

A Taste of Heaven

This morning, at church, I think I got a small glimpse of Heaven as we shared communion together. Communion is not uncommon to me, but I was struck by how this would be more like it was in Heaven because of the mix of cultures. Here I was with the African church sharing in the remembrance of Christ. We sang together, read the Word together, and then remembered all that Christ did for us on the cross. It was a good reminder for me of how we serve a universal God who is coming back to take every culture Home with Him where we will all commune with Him. 

Great God Who Saves

Even when the way is hard to bear

And you wonder if someone even cares

The mountains seem to hard to face

Moments make you question your place

Look to Me, My child, I'm holding your hand

He said My child I love you

I came to earth to die

With My outstretched arms

I held you so tight

So don't question what I'm doing

Don't question what's inside

I said I would  never leave you

So won't you trust Me tonight

Don't you see all that I've done

Did you miss that I sent You My Son

I've walked with you all the way

By your side I'll always stay

Look to Me, My child, I'm helping you stand

My grace is sufficient, sufficient for you

My grace is sufficient, sufficient for you

My grace is sufficient for you

The two verses of this song came to me during some of the hardest days so far while we were in Nyemah last week. God pulled us through that week, and then He gave us a pretty good week with the kids this week. He is constantly by our side, constantly holding our hands, and constantly walking every single step with us. Without Him, we couldn't be doing any of this.

Coming off of week 2, I will be honest and admit that I was not looking forward to heading out again. We had one less day in Monrovia, so when Sunday rolled around, I was not excited. We arrived on Sunday to the big village with over 250 kids. Monday morning proved to be a challenge as there were kids everywhere. I don't even know how they all packed in there. I referred to this week as chaotic. I will say though that for that many kids, they were quite calm and quiet. The sessions went well.

The afternoon of day 2 is when we present the Gospel. I was wondering how this time would go as both weeks prior have been different. We went through the presentation and then asked who wanted to make this commitment. This time we had them raise their hands before coming up front. It was so cool because there were a few hands, but it wasn't like the whole bunch of them raised their hands. It seemed to be peer pressure free, and I loved it! We end that session early giving those who have questions a chance to stay back, and this week the ones who asked Jesus to come into their hearts stayed back. We got to talk with them and encourage them. 

From the moment we landed, there didn't seem to be the same feel of extreme spiritual darkness that normally took root in us as heaviness. There was a more "lightness" about this village which was much needed coming off of the previous week. We know that the "heaviness" is ok because it means we are taking Light where the devil doesn't want it, but it was nice to have a break from it for sure. 

Our last session was good as we took our new brothers and sisters in Christ aside to answer more questions and just read some Scripture and encourage them. This is my favorite time of the week. Please pray for these 16 as there isn't a lot of guidance for them. Our team will be going back in a few weeks for some much needed follow up, but we pray that the Holy Spirit guides them as they asked some great practical and applicable questions. It was amazing some of the questions they were asking. God is at work in their hearts!

We made it back to Monrovia yesterday morning and were able to celebrate Lisa's birthday with dinner and cake. She got the bush in the morning and city at night! Who could ask for more!?! :) 

Last weekend, I got to experience "town" for the first time, and let me just say that I am not a fan. It was craziness everywhere. We did go back yesterday, and it is better to go during the week. There is so much to take in here in this Liberian culture. I think I had a little culture shock when we came back from Nyemeh because life in the bush is so different from Monrovia. I wasn't expecting that I would have that shock within the same country. It only makes me wonder what it will be like when I step foot on US soil.

Our plans have changed small small. The original plan was to go to different villages every week. It quickly became apparent that follow up for these villages was vital though, so after a meeting last week, we tweaked the plans a little. The original plan was for 9 different villages, so now the new plan is to go to 4 villages, come back for a week of follow up training here in Monrovia, and then go back to those same villages for another week. I must say this plan made me smile as I was concerned about leaving these new believers with very little discipleship in our week with these kids. We will spend that week here planning specific outlines and plans for each village. Pray that God would guide us to know how to best follow up with each village. 

God is doing great things here. Not only was VBS going on this week in our village, but water projects were happening and sanitation workshops were in session. One of the girls on our team, Comfort, was even able to use her nurse training to help out at the clinic with some malaria patients. It is cool to see all the different ways God uses to proclaim His name! He is the same here as He is around the world! He is our constant!

I will try to post some more pictures later.... maybe even share some of the funny stories of the weeks. 

Another week

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD watches over you the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

We find ourselves at the end of week two in the bush, and what a week it was. I found myself thinking about what I would write because we don't have the same story to share as last week. It wasn't necessarily a bad week, but it was a more trying week with less connection. Although we had about the same amount of kids, we all seemed to struggle to communicate with them. Very few really understood English which made one on one interaction next to impossible for me. Once again, we were met by such a physical heaviness that loomed over us for a couple of days. I found myself asleep most of the first day, and then once VBS started, I would sleep during the lunch break. It was a hard week, but Psalm 121 was an encouragement to me. I listened to Bebo Norman's "Lift My Eyes" several times throughout the week which provided a boost for sure.

The village we were in was Nyemah which from the air appeared to be smaller than Gbarngay, but we quickly learned that at night the place was hoppin. We were told on day one that the school was were we would be meeting and that right behind it was were the bush society met. Once again, we were reminded that we were in the midst of spiritual darkness. Our first night there, I woke Lisa up to walk with me to the latrine which was located right next to the school. We were stumbling our way through the village around 9:45 when we heard someone yelling at us. I was just going to ignore him (probably not the wisest thought I have ever had), but Lisa started talking to him. Apparently he was trying to tell us that our house was the other way because he thought we were going into the bush. That would be a negative! You couldn't have paid me to set foot in there after dark. She informed him we were merely trying to go to the bathroom, and this seemed to settle him down. That was our only experience with him chasing us thank goodness. 

We taught the same curriculum as before, but this time mostly through an interpreter. This was hard for Lisa as she was used to being able to be understood. I found it easier because either way they struggled to understand me, so it made it seem like I wasn't just sinking alone in my communication. On day 2, the gospel was presented again, but this time the response was different. There was a time where it seemed like no one would respond. That was ok because we didn't want to force it, but it was a reminder that from village to village responses would be different. We just aren't sure how much was understood. By the end of the week, we think a couple of kids had a good understanding and one boy, Amos, is now in the family of Christ. We aren't sure where some of the others stand. 

It's been a busy weekend, and we are off to our next village tomorrow and will be back on Thursday. There is plenty more to tell, but it will have to wait til the weekend. Thanks so much for praying. Please continue. The village that we are heading into has over 250 kids for VBS. This could get interesting!